The present variety of nectarine tree was produced by us at Bradford Farms in Merced County (San Joaquin Valley), Calif., as the result of a seedling of Red Diamond (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 3,165) as the seed parent and Aurora Grand (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 4,792) as the selected pollen parent. Subsequent to origination of the present variety of nectarine tree, we asexually reproduced it by budding and grafting, and such reproduction of plant and fruit characteristics were true to the original plant in all respects.
The present variety most nearly resembles the May Diamond (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 5,454) in appearance by being a full red colored freestone with excellent firmness, but is distinguished therefrom and an improvement thereon by harvesting seven days earlier. This earlier ripening time fills a very important harvesting time gap between Early Diamod (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 5,438) and May Diamond for commercial nectarines in central California.
The present variety is similar to its seed parent, Red Diamond, by being a full colored firm freestone but is distinguished therefrom by ripening 29 days earlier. The present variety is similar to its pollen parent, Aurora Grand, by being a full colored early ripening freestone but is distinguished therefrom by ripening 3 days earlier, by being more uniform in both size and ripening, and by having a recessed apex.